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Powered by LifeType12/4 - F putting on chapstick. Joy recalls, "Last time my lips sting. Now my lips better."
12/6 - JDD, in a growly voice, with a straw stuck in his teeth and the other end in a glass of water, "I am the savage, saber-toothed mosquito!"
12/6 - JPD upper right primary incisor
12/7 - Noah, "You can use anything for dress clothes. It just won't look as nice."
12/8 - JPD 9 steps to Mommy
by 12/19 - JPD record 11 steps, and 24 seconds standing up.
12/20 - JDD realizes that the words to Deck the Halls are not "Don we now our gray apparel."
12/23 - I'm upstairs with JPD on toilet.
Joy, "Mommy, come down here."
"Is it an emergency, or do you just want me there?"
"It emerdenee."
[I come down, naked baby on hip, wondering if the cider is boiling over, or what]
"Guy come in here."
[yikes! Don't see anyone, oh, maybe just UPS man]
Then I see our friend on the porch peering in.
I was very happy with the way Joy handled the situation. She didn't freak out when she saw someone, but she also made sure I knew it was not just a whim of hers for me to come down.
12/23 - It's all how you look at it. Joy's take: "That nice day. My 'pecial time." It was 32 and rainy as we walked to the bank. But we found a quarter in the slush, and she got a lollipop at the bank, and we looked at the water pouring into the grates, and she had her special time with Mommy.
~12/25 - JPD upper left primary incisor
1/4 - The fire in the pellet stove went down some, and I looked at the thermometer to see why. I exclaimed, "It's toasty now! Seven degrees." Jonathan doubtfully replied, "Negative seven isn't all that toasty..." Me, "No, positive seven!" JDD, "Oh! That is toasty!"
1/6 - JPD walked 21 feet.
1/11 - The boys had their first karate test. It was very interesting to watch. For the first rank up, from white to yellow, it is "only" two hours long. All testers are in the dojo together, and they do much of the same moves at first. Lots of pushups, jumping jacks, sit ups. Lots of repetition. It required concentration and endurance. It was intense, hard work. As time went along, I could see red cheeks, sweating brows. After an hour, the current white and yellow belts got to rest in the meditation position while the upper belts did more advanced work. However, after a while that turned out to be a test of endurance also. I think if I stay in that position too long, my feet fall asleep! They got a water break at the hour mark, and then a few more after that. Jonathan commented that it wasn't fair that they got more water breaks than the more advanced kids. But everyone says the test is harder the more advance you are. Jonathan's concentration and determination never wavered. Noah did the best I've ever seen him (sometimes he gets sloppy) and he only figeted towards the end. They did a great job and they earned their yellow belts! (Sorry about the picture, our camera puts orientation info in it but the blog didn't read it and I do not want to redo it.)
1/12 - JPD went down the kitchen stool steps successfully. Also that same day, he got down off the bed purposefully by scooting himself backwards, tummy down feet first until he slid off.
He is now definitely a walker. Still holding his arms up for balance.
1/17 - JPD has a pincer grasp now.
11/8 - It was gusty and the maple seeds were being blown off our big tree by the thousands. It was such an amazing sight! The little helicopters were fluttering everywhere, even swarming like a host of grasshoppers or little birds. The grand picture was the swarming, and then if you focused on one little seed, you could see it twirling and swirling up and down like a little hummingbird. It was such a neat thing to watch!
11/9 - JPD first step - JDD saw it
11/11 - JPD climbed up the stairs all the way with me behind
11/12 - JPD climbed up the stairs all the way by himself
He's done it several times with and without people behind him and he's had a few tumbles (with and without people behind him.) (More)
I'll take this opportunity, home from church with two sick kids, to post my notes.
10/19 - JDD, "Most fun things are spoiled if you HAVE to do them." I forget the context of his quote but it reminded me of my thought at the harvest supper. The middle and high school youth groups were the servers for the meal, and they did a great job and looked like they enjoyed it. But then I saw one of them asking Barbara to sign off on the community service hours and it got me thinking. I'm disappointed that the kids are required to do some number of community service hours. The requirement takes away the free service part of it and basically makes it forced unpaid labor - slavery! Now I understand that sometimes it takes persuasion or force to get you to do something at first, but then hopefully you can see what a joy it is to make people's lives better. I would think that even if you enjoyed a particular service, there is something taken away from the freedom in it to have to keep track of the hours. But at any rate, these kids are making the best of their requirement and enjoying it anyway!
10/19 - JPD rolled back to front.
10/25 - JPD 8 mo visit. 20.5 lb, 27.25"
10/26 - JPD has been saying "hi" (sounds like "ha") and waving this month, and today he said, "bye".
10/27 - Joy, "I really like my song blanket. It's really fun, with music."
10/28 - Faith counts from 900-1000. Then continued, taking 10 minutes to get to 1100, then another 40
minutes to get to 1200.
10/28 - JPD gets 2nd tooth. (bottom L incisor)
10/30 - JPD says, "da, da" for dirty diaper (Not necessarily repeated - da,da is a common word for him.)
11/2 - JPD climbs up two stairs, Faith saves him.
11/3 - JPD climbs half way up the stairway, Mom spotting. One time he sat down, one time he slipped. At the
triangle threshold, he had difficulty. After some work, decided he was done and Mom carried him up the
rest of the way.
Jeremiah has been a bit wheezy with this cold but of course it's the weekend so we can't call the doctor. Joy was coughing a lot last evening, but has not wheezed. She seems much better this morning after I let her sleep late.
9/13 - A Friday. Jonathan had been asking me if he could read Harry Potter for a while. I told him I needed to talk to Daddy about whether we thought he was ready, but I kept forgetting. The strategy that worked was asking me in Daddy's presence so I didn't have time to forget. So the decision was "yes, but you have to finish all your school and chores first." Immediately after completing those in record time, he ran to the library. Jonathan proceeded to read the first Harry Potter book in four hours. He started book four by Saturday evening. In these first two days, whenever he talked about the story, he kept calling Harry "Arthur". Daddy made him take a break from the constant reading on Sunday, but Monday (after school) he was at it again. He finished the whole series the next Saturday 9/21. So that's an average of a book a day.
9/16 - Jonathan whistles the Imperial March from Star Wars while reading Harry Potter. (More)
Faith had a blast at Star Island with Grammy and Papa.
7/25 - JDD, explaining why he likes to use a certain spoon for his breakfast cereal, "That spoon
is special to me, because Grammy gave it to me for Christmas last year."
7/28 or 29 - Joy had a cold and I gave her 1 or 2 nebulizer treatments. (Putting this in so I can
keep track because now I wish I had written in other ones.)
7/30 - Noah lost his upper right 2nd incisor.
8/3 - F: "I like brothers, I just don't like when they're annoying." (More)
Having a dad in the fire department is educational in more than just fire safety:
5/17 - Jon is called to an accident "involving motor vehicle vs. moose"
5/18 - Jonathan reads about moose and siberian tigers on wikipedia
~5 - Joy says "owee here" = outta here
5/20 - jpd 17 lb on our scale
5/20 - After bikinh home from his ipiano lesson: Noah: "Mom, I fell. The chain got off all the gears. So I put it back on. The handlebars got crooked from the wheel, too."
5/21 - We have a game on the Kindle that involves both a princess and a knight. Faith was talking about it and called it the princess game. After listening to her description, Jonathan said, "Oh, you mean the knight game?"
5/22 - I have more to say about attention spans a little later, but here is one example. Joy peeled garlic for 20 minutes while I was making dinner. (More)
Joy says "lellow" for yellow, which appears to be her favorite color.
4/24 - Jeremiah figured out his thumb! It's the left one he sucks. Does this mean I'll finally get a left-hander?
4/26 - Sometimes when school runs past noon, Joy decides to get lunch for herself. Usually, she doesn't do too badly of a job - cheese and crackers, cereal, an apple or banana. This day, however, she got into Jonathan's chocolate stash and ate half a milk chocolate ovomaltine bar!
4/29 - Faith came up to me and said, "Mom, say, 'little boat' ten times fast."
4/29 - Jeremiah likes to watch his fist, moving his hand and wrist. I like this stage. I like lots of stages. (:
5/7 - Joy can say the /k/ sound now! She doesn't yet use it in all the words that have it, but is increasing her use.
5/7 - This was the day Joy got out a nice lunch. Leftover soup, poured into her own bowl, cheese, which she sliced with the cheese cutter, and a box of oatmeal packets which she opened but didn't prepare.
5/11 - Joy was sleepy, lying on the couch, singing to herself, "Mommy love you, Thay love you, Miah love you, Dad-o love you, Daddy love you, Papa love you, Don love you, Noah love you, Damma love you, etc."
I've noticed I don't have much on Jonathan and Noah lately, so I'll try to think of some of their accomplishments. But right now I'll write just one becuase it's dinner time - prepared by them!
3/30 - Jeremiah started cooing. He also can make minimal forward progress along the bed when waking up.
Joy says "my do it" for many things. She also pronounces "water" correctly now instead of saying "wow". She's also really good at remembering to say thank you. (Sounds like "dankt you")
4/7 - Jonathan, as we were walking to church: "The air tastes fresh and crisp like a Cortland apple." (This is from the boy who during school time says he can't write poetry. I think what he really means is he doesn't like to write poetry when constrained by meter and rhyme.)
4/17 - Joy, starting to progress to full sentences, "Uh-oh, where my coat?"
That same evening, Joy put away the pasta sauce from dinner, scooping it out of the pot into a container all by herself. Yes, there were drips on the table, but not too bad, really.
4/22 - We had a young friend over for lunch, and she wondered if Mr. Daley was going to come have lunch. Here is Noah's response, summarizing Daddy's life: "He sleeps, then he eats breakfast, then he works, works, works, then he eats dinner, then he sleeps, then he eats breakfast, then he works, works, works, ..."
I might add, on some days, some more "works, works, works" after dinner and before sleep. I hope his customers are thankful for him! (We are thankful for them - and him!)
4/22 - Me, to Joy, "Why is your hair all wet?" Joy, "Um . . . water?"
A picture of Jonathan at about 3-4 months came up on our computer - it has been confirmed: Jeremiah looks like Jonathan! Joy was convinced it was "Miah".
That reminds me. Joy says all of our names now: "Daddy, Mommy, Djon, Noah, Thae, Me, Miah"
3/24 - Faith counts to 100 by ones.
3/25 - Joy says "Miah" for Jeremiah. She started this before that day, but that's the
first day I realized that was what she was saying.
3/25 - Joy sorts the Peanut Butter and Jelly cards by type, all on her own initiative, and
correctly.
3/26 - Noah read Faith's handwriting scripture upside-down. He only had trouble on the
longest words (like "Scripture").
3/28 - Joy counts, "3, 2, 3, 2, 5, 2, 3..."
Joy now consistently calls Jonathan "Jon".
She also says "God Bless You" when someone sneezes, and it sounds like "Blebt, bloo"
Oh, yes. It has been half a year since my last pocket notes post...
9/6 - Joy says "yum" and "yummy", "all done/gone" (sounds like ah-doh), "where shoe?", and "mine" (sounds like my)
9/25 - Faith reading the Bible to Joy: "When you want Mommy to cuddle with you but she can't, you aren't alone because God is with you."
Faith also reminded herself of this as she went down to put tools away in the basement.
9/28 - Noah let me listen to his piano practice and I was impressed with his progress: both hands, dynamics, steady rythmn (More)
9/19 - Joy has been telling me when she needs a new diaper (patting her bottom) but this day, she got out the changing pad and wipes, set up the pad on the bathroom floor, put a new diaper on top of the wipes box, lay down on the pad, and called for me.
9/20 - Noah is definitely our hands-on guy. He asks for crafts related to what we do in school. When we read a book about archaeology, he immediately wanted to go dig in the back yard. He got a trowel and a sieve and a container to hold his treasures and happily dug and sifted for a long time.
~9/20 - Joy can say, "ow".
9/25 - Joy put on her own socks all by herself. Before this, she had successfully put on mine.
9/27 - Joy says "please" to go with her sign. It sounds like "wee".
9/27 - Sounding the same, but in a different context. When she plays with the abacus, she says, "wee, wee, wee" as she movs the beads. 9/28 - She also "counted" "wee, wee, wee" when playing with the corners cards.
9/28 - Faith really wanted to play Corners with me, so I made up a version she can do. (The "real" game involves finding numbers that add up to 5, 10, 15, or 20.) We played where we had to match the color and the numeral. Faith loved it! (More)
These notes are really old, but not lost.
6/7 - Noah's first lost tooth. Bottom left front. It took a very long time for it to come out. He doesn't play with it at all..
Joy was sitting on the couch. Faith wanted to do a trick, so we asked Joy to get down. She did it willingly, waited for Faith to do her trick, and then climbed back up, without complaining.
6/20 - Noah's right bottom front tooth came out. He was eating a cookie. The tooth was chocolatey, so he went to wash it off, but then the tooth went down the drain.
~6/30 Joy steps down two stairs like a big person.
8/10 - Faith can pump a swing needing only one starter push.
8/14 - Joy was having a fun time in the bath, leaning back, nearly floating on her bath, then putting her face in, over and over.
8/20 - Noah's front right upper tooth is lost. He says, "I'm going to get money." Jon asks, "How do you know?" Faith pipes up, "Because Mommy is a fairy!"
All four of Joy's canines have appeared since the move. I did not pay enough attention to note dates for them.
8/24 - Noah did the monkey bars at the playground all by himself.
8/27 - We're at the playground. I can't hear the boys' conversation, but then I hear Noah shouting defensively, "I'm not a homo sapien!" You might imagine that until he finished the second word I was concerned that Jonathan was talking inappropriately. But I could not help but laugh when I heard what the accusation had been.
9/1 - We were visiting our next door neighbor's yard sale. The lady said "hi" to us and I said, "Say, 'hi'". Faith got all shy, and hid into me. But then I heard from the stroller, "Hi!" Joy said it several times!
9/6 - Faith's 4th birthday! It was a really fun day. We went for a walk, we went to the playground, Grammy took her out for ice cream. They had a grand old time with balloons. We had a dinner of pizza, pasta, and salad. Then Faith opened her presents, and then we had cherry 'o cheese pie and ice cream with sprinkles. (Faith actually skipped the ice cream in the evening because she had had hers earlier with Grammy). Faith's review? "That did be the funnest birthday I ever had!"
How do I begin? Not really at the beginning.
June 15, we sold the house we were living in and drove to New Hampshire in two moving trucks and a minivan. (A very hearty and grateful "thank you!" to Ron and Ron for driving the trucks!)
The days preceding that day were extremely full, including two funerals for people from families dear enough that we felt it necessary to carve out the time to spend with them.
We did not technically buy our new house for another couple of days, but it did eventually work out.
We are staying at Jon's parents' house while renovating our new house. This is for the very most part a good thing. The only disadvantages we've found so far involve having things in two places.
Renovations are right now at the "rather overwhelming" stage. There's a lot of work to do and we wonder how it will all get done.
At the end of June, we took a break to spend a week at the Maggie P with lots of family, including the Swiss cousins, and Noah and Joseph had their birthday together.
After we got back, Jonathan, Noah and Faith had two weeks of swimming lessons at the lake. Jonathan started learning official strokes, and Noah got to the confidence level Jonathan had last summer. Faith made progress in being comfortable in the water as well, though she still wouldn't put her head under by the end of the sessions.
For the past week, Jon and Noah have been in Pittsburgh finishing the fixing up of Carroll St, and getting some work done for Lime Daley customers.
I've been meeting with a bunch of contractors - plumbing/heating, painter, plasterer, chimney guys. A local college student has been coming over nearly every day for a few hours to scrape wallpaper. It turns out when you start taking down wallpaper, it just goes and goes and soon you have two whole hallways including staircase of wallpaper to take off. About four layers of it, too, a hundred years' worth.
Speaking of a hundred years. Jon took off part of one wall in preparation for building a built-in bookcase, and he found a treasure! A Mother's Day postcard from 1912, from the Sunday School of Smith Church (Jon's parents' church). It is really neat. We're going to copy one side and then frame it with the copy so you can see both sides.
Time to start getting ready for bed. I will try to post updates more frequently, but it's hard to find the moments. Tonight, I found myself alone with the computer while all the kids were outside playing with the neighbors. After some grueling looking at curriculum stuff, I thought I'd have a nice little blog time. (:
Pictures from April till now are posted. (See link on the sidebar)
5/24 - I don't remember the context, but the quote from Jonathan is, "Well, the definition of 'Mom' is basically 'tired person'."
5/25 - Noah showed me his newfound skill of pumping a swing from standstill to as high as he wants. To me, it is one of those things that is an "all of a sudden". Just the week before, I was thinking it was about time he could do it but it just didn't seem like it was happening. Then it just clicked and he can do it.
5/25 - Faith has said this for a while but I thought I'd record it. "Company" has the "an" and "y" switched, plus the sub /c/ for /t/, so it sounds like "tumpyan." Very hard to understand if you don't get the context, but still kind of cute.
5/26 - Noah called the boat fender the "defender".
5/30 - I got up early to go to the bathroom. When I was washing my hands, I heard a clear, distinct, "Mommy!" coming from the bedroom. I thought it was strange for Faith to be up so early, but when I got in, I saw Faith sound asleep. It was Joy who was sitting up and waiting patiently for me to answer her call! Since then, she calls me by name a lot and it is so sweet.
Certain relatives might be interested in knowing that Jonathan's list of books he wanted to keep out until the last minute are D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, his children's Dictionary, one Calvin and Hobbes book, and one Asterix book.